


What Are Ya Gonna Do?

by roosevelt



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: But I took some liberties, Declarations Of Love, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Misunderstandings, Not Canon Compliant, Not super out of canon, One Shot, Pining, these guys are idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 11:38:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17661866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roosevelt/pseuds/roosevelt
Summary: Dakota has had a crush on Cavendish for so long that even Milo's noticed- but Cavendish can't like him back, can he?





	What Are Ya Gonna Do?

On one of his rare days off, Dakota sits on a rickety bench, openly staring across Danville’s nicest park at his partner Cavendish. Normally, he’d be right beside him, but Cavendish was with Zack and Melissa, so Dakota had the rare chance to sit back and observe. He doesn’t give himself that luxury often. Cavendish is watching something on Melissa’s phone, and he seems very excited about it. He’s laughing, his face unguarded, and it’s so rare for Dakota to get see him like this. Relaxed, unwound, happy. He lets out a sigh.

“You really like him, huh?” Dakota turns around quickly, startled. Milo is standing just behind the bench, watching him watch Cavendish.

“What?” Dakota asks, taken aback.

“You like him. It’s kind of obvious.”

“Is it really? I was tryin’ to be, I don’t know, subtle.” Dakota grimaces, embarrassed.

“Sorry, Mr. Dakota. It didn’t really work.”

Dakota leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, letting his head hang. He looks so dejected that Milo almost feels bad for mentioning anything at all. Milo also knows that if Dakota and Cavendish didn’t talk about their feelings soon, he’d go insane.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Milo continues. “It’s sweet. You really love him.”

“Well, yeah,” Dakota sighs. “It’s Cavendish. What’re ya gonna do?”

Milo raises his eyebrows. “Tell him how you really feel?”

Dakota laughs, loudly. Cavendish, still across the park, glances over and smiles. Dakota can feel his face heat up as he gives Cavendish a little smile and wave. Cav turns back to whatever’s on Melissa’s phone, grinning harder.

“First of all, kid, that was kinda a rhetorical question,”

Milo shrugs.

“And, secondly, are you crazy? I can’t tell Cav how I feel- that would ruin everything!”

“Why?”

“It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t like me back.”

Milo walks closer to the bench and sits down. “That’s not true,”

Dakota sighs yet again, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’ve heard the way he talks to me. Cav barely likes me as a friend. He thinks I’m stupid, and lazy, and selfish-“

“I don’t think he actually thinks those things about you,” Milo interrupts.

“Then why would he say them?”

“Some people have trouble with their emotions. I think Mr. Cavendish is one of them.”

“So, what? He likes me so much that he’s gotta constantly insult me?”

“Well, yeah!” Milo gives a little laugh.

“Thanks, kid, but I really don’t think that’s the case.” Dakota slumps even lower, and Milo furrows his brow in concern.

“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but you can’t see the way he looks at you when you’re turned away.”

Dakota feels a pang in his chest, because he wants to believe it’s true. He wants to believe it so bad, but he can’t, because then it would hurt even more when Cavendish rejected him.

“Dakota!” Cavendish yells, waving Melissa’s phone frantically. “You simply must come see this! It’s a panda bear! And he’s sneezing!”

Cavendish wears a joyful expression that Dakota barely gets to see- the one reserved for days off and mission successes. The one Dakota wished he could see every day. Milo shoots him a knowing look, eyebrows raised, and Dakota shoots a dirty one back as he gets up to join Cavendish. Of course he goes to Cavendish- what else would he do?

As he walks away, he hears Milo yelp as the bench collapses under him.

  

Two hours later, on the overstuffed couch of the little two-bedroom apartment Cavendish and Dakota share, Cav is still thinking about the panda bear video.

“Who knew animals could be so cute!” His excitement hasn’t waned one bit.

“I did, Cav. That’s why I like the zoo so much.”

“Well, I suppose I see where you’re coming from now! I’ve never really liked animals, but that- that was brilliant!” He pauses, like he as to drum up courage from somewhere. “Do you think we could go again sometime?”

Dakota grins. “Sure, Cav! You know I love the zoo.” Then, of course, Dakota bursts into song. He gets through three verses before Cavendish interjects.

“Okay, okay- that’s quite enough of that!” Cavendish sounds annoyed, but he can’t quite hide his smile. He’s got a softness in his eyes that Dakota has to ignore, because it can’t mean what he wants it to. That’s just wishful thinking, and even wishing hurts.

“I’m gonna go get a soda. You want anything?” Dakota stands up, and to his surprise, Cavendish follows suit.

“I’m not quite sure. I’ll come with you.”

They walk the few steps to their small kitchen in a slightly uneasy silence. When they get there, Dakota grabs a soda from the fridge and hops onto the counter, letting his legs swing while Cavendish rummages through their small, but very full, pantry. His eyes fall to a bag of pistachios.

“What do you think Brick and Savannah are up to now?” He sounds forlorn, and Dakota doesn’t like that at all. He hates that Brick and Savannah get into Cavendish’s head so much. Anyone that makes Cavendish feel stupid is immediately on Dakota’s hitlist- the only person that can make fun of Cav is him.

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

Cavendish turns around to face him. “Don’t care?”

“Nope. Don’t care,” Dakota takes a long pull from his soda. “Why would I?”

“Well,” Cavendish starts, looking very red. “I thought that you had a-“ he coughs. “Thing for Savannah.”

“Savannah?” Dakota chokes on his soda. “Savannah! You think I have a crush on Savannah?”

“Well, yes! You two seem very close!”

Dakota busts out laughing. Cavendish splutters angrily.

“It’s a perfectly valid conclusion to draw!”

Dakota keeps laughing wildly. “Of all the people you could’ve guessed, you chose the exact opposite of the one-“ Dakota’s eyes go wide as he abruptly shuts up.

Cavendish’s eyebrows are so high up on his forehead it’s almost comical.

“The exact opposite?” he asks, hesitant. “Dakota, do you like men?”

Dakota sets down his soda and runs a hand over his face, eyes shut.

“Yeah, Cav. I do.”

“Oh.” There’s a very pregnant pause. Dakota has never felt so uncomfortable in his life. He re-opens his eyes.

“Is that a problem?” Cavendish shakes his head once, then again, frantically.

“No! No,” he seems even more uncomfortable than Dakota. “Actually, I, uh. I like men too.” Cavendish is beet red and can’t quite seem to look Dakota in the eye. Dakota tries not to look too shocked, or worse, disappointed. It was one thing when he had an unrequited crush on his straight best friend. It was quite another when his friend did like men, just not him.

“Oh,” Dakota says, tone flat. “Thanks for telling me.”

Both Cavendish and Dakota are silent for a long while. The awkwardness is almost palpable, the tension so thick they could feel it in their chests. Cavendish breaks the silence first.

“Are you in love with Brick?”

Dakota lets out a low laugh, hops off the counter, and starts to leave the kitchen, but Cavendish grabs his arm. Dakota stiffens, but turns around slowly anyway, not wanting to face Cavendish, but knowing he has to.

“No, don’t leave! I demand to know-“ Cavendish’s words die in his throat as Dakota roughly grabs his face and kisses him. It’s not a particularly long kiss, but it’s enthusiastic. Dakota figures that if he only gets one shot, he’d better make it good. Cavendish stands completely still, eyes huge.

Dakota pulls back, looking a dazed Cavendish in the eyes.

“It’s you, Cav. I’m in love with you, always have been. I’m sorry. I’ll go.” He walks away.  
Cavendish blinks twice at a retreating Dakota, then snaps into action.

“Wait!” He yells, far too loud, and runs after his partner. Dakota turns around, not quite daring to hope. “Me? You’re in love with me?”

Dakota sets his jaw, gaze downturned.

“Yeah, I am. So, laugh at me. Get it out of your system. I can have my bags packed by-“  
This time, it’s Cavendish who interrupts Dakota. He kisses him frantically, easily lifting him into his arms. Dakota gets over his shock quickly, letting himself be lifted and wrapping his legs around Cavendish’s waist. It’s easy for Dakota to forget how strong Cav is, but after this, it’s going to be seared into his brain forever. They only pull back when they’re out of air. Cavendish keeps a firm hold of Dakota, like he wants to keep reminding himself that this is real.

“You love me back?” Dakota murmurs.

“More than anything.”

“Since when?”

“The first day we met,” Cavendish admits quietly. Dakota smiles, letting his arms hang loose around Cav’s shoulders.

“Me too.”

They kiss again, slower, almost languid, because this time, they know there’s going to be more.

“I’m sorry for being such an idiot,” Cavendish looks sheepish.

Dakota shrugs, arms hanging loosely around Cavendish’s neck.

“Eh, you’re Cavendish,” Dakota smiles. “What’re ya gonna do?”

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was my first fanfic ever. I hope I did a good job and wasn't too disappointing! Comments are always welcome (seriously, please comment!) and I'd love to hear your thoughts, critiques included. This was all me, so if I made a mistake (or ten) that's on me too! Thanks for reading! (:


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